Cascading impacts of food loss and waste on biodiversity through agricultural land use

Food loss and waste (FLW) drives additional agricultural production and cropland expansion to meet food demand, leading to habitat loss and posing a threat to biodiversity worldwide. In this study, we traced how FLW influences agricultural land use and biodiversity through global food trade and quantified the resource-saving benefits of various FLW reduction scenarios. In 2018, approximately 2,246.3 Mt of FLW was generated, accounting for a land footprint of 800.3 Mha and leading to the equivalent of 13,920 species*year of potential global species extinction. Fast-growing economies such as China, Brazil, and Iran dominated the growth of FLW between 2000 and 2018. Of global FLW, 54.1% was generated by the top 10 countries with the highest FLW. Halving FLW in just these 10 countries or 40 biodiversity hotspots is expected to reduce FLW-related biodiversity losses by 31.1–35.1%, which is more beneficial than halving FLW in all remaining countries. The results reveal a strong yet under-discussed synergy between FLW reduction and biodiversity conservation via land transformation, highlighting where FLW intervention should be prioritized. While it is widely acknowledged that limiting cropland expansion is crucial for biodiversity conservation, we advocate for integrating FLW reduction efforts into the implementation strategy of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.